Contents

Layout

The crypt's ironwood door, which is located in the oldest section of Winterfell near the First Keep[4] and the lichyard,[5] is old and heavy.[6] The chilly and dark crypt is accessible by narrow and winding spiral stone steps which lead to multiple levels. One floor contains a long line of granite pillars, two by two, between which are entombed the dead of House Stark. It has a vaulted ceiling.[1]

While all family members can have tombs in the crypts,[7][6] statues are traditionally only made for Kings in the North and Lords of Winterfell.[8] The likenesses of these high lords are carved into the stone, some shaggy, some clean shaven.[8] Large stone direwolves curl at their feet. According to tradition, iron longswords across each lord's lap keep vengeful spirits within the crypt.[1]

The cavernous vault is larger than Winterfell itself, with older Starks buried in deeper and darker levels.[8] The lowest level is said to be partly collapsed.[4] The most recent tombs within the crypts are those of Lord Rickard Stark and his children, Brandon and Lyanna. The tombs further back, empty and unsealed, are saved for future members of House Stark.[1]

History

According to free folk legend, Bael the Bard disappeared from Winterfell with the daughter of Lord Brandon Stark. The daughter eventually reappeared with an infant, a future Lord Stark, with the legend claiming that they had hid within the crypt.[10]

While in King's Landing, Ned dreams of the crypts beneath Winterfell, envisioning the Kings of Winter watching him with eyes of ice and the stone direwolves snarling at him. Lyanna's statue whispers to him, "Promise me, Ned."[2]

The crippled Bran Stark dreams of visiting the crypts with the three-eyed crow and speaking with his father, Eddard, who is away in the capital. After waking he tasks Hodor with bringing him the crypts, but the stableboy is terrified and refuses to enter the crypts, which had not happened before.[8][14]

A Clash of Kings

A stonemason chisels the likeness of Eddard for his granite tomb in the crypt. Rickon shows the vaults to Big Walder and Little Walder Frey, which angers Bran.[15]Jojen Reed tells Bran he had a green dream of Bran and Rickon in the crypts.[16]

Having captured Winterfell, Theon Greyjoy refuses to allow Luwin to bury the bodies of Bran and Rickon in the crypts. Unbeknownst to the servants of Winterfell, however, the bodies are the sons of a miller, not the missing Starks.[3]

Quotes

Robert: Ah, damn it, Ned, did you have to bury her in a place like this? She deserves more than darkness...

Eddard: She was a Stark of Winterfell. This is her place.Robert: She should be on a hill somewhere, under a fruit tree, with the sun and clouds above her and the rain to wash her clean.Eddard: I was with her when she died. She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father.[1]

Their faces were stern and strong, and some of them had done terrible things, but they were Starks every one, and Bran knew all their tales. He had never feared the crypts; they were part of his home and who he was, and he had always known that one day he would lie here too.[6]

All my dreams are of the crypts, of the stone kings on their thrones. Sometimes I hear Robb's voice, and my father's, as if they were at a feast. But there's a wall between us, and I know that no place has been set for me.[23]